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Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Look Beneath the Skin

The debate is raging right now over whether the pagan label is still useful. Links to quite a few of the articles written pertaining to it can be found at Pantheon.

I'll be honest, I've not read all of them. But here are my thoughts on the matter, none the less.

I think it's ridiculous. Maybe because I don't see it as bothering me, or having a great impact on my life, I see it differently.

It's a name. A label. A jumble of letters put together to form sounds. I have no issue with what people want to call me. Wiccan, Witch, Pagan, Heathen, or anything else. The labels don't matter. What I believe does.

My belief does not require labels. My faith does not ask of me what label I define my beliefs by. Let's pose something hypothetical: Let's put a couple of pagans in a room together. A Wiccan, a Heathen, and maybe one or two others of different pagan religions.

If you walked into that room, chances are you would be able to discern which was which. Or, which Witch was which. Sorry, couldn't help that one. The Wiccan might have a triple moon about her, a necklace or bracelet or some such thing. A Heathen might have a Thor's hammer. A Druid might have a symbol of a tree about them.

Since that is what is seen, those are the assumptions drawn by labeling. To truly see, one must look beneath the skin.

Underneath the label, underneath the differences of those religions, we all believe a lot of same thing, and disbelieve a lot of the same things.

We believe in walking our own paths. We believe (for the most part) in tolerance. We are pagan because it is a philosophy; a way of doing things which our pagan religions all subscribe to. The philosophy of paganism is our connecting thread. One the surface one might see Wicca, Heathen, Druid. Underneath that we have so many similarities, and that is what the focus should be on. What makes us the same, not what makes us different.

2 comments:

Those differences are why I usually identify myself as Pagan as opposed to Wiccan which is more correct. Pagan is a larger umbrella, and I prefer to focus on what I have in common with other people of alternative faith.

Honestly, I see Deity as multifaceted, and whether one chooses to call it God, God & Goddess, or any one of a thousand names, it's all part of that Great Creative Force in the Universe that we're all trying to connect with. So, I see unity in faith, even differing faiths. And, while I don't need a label for that, I don't mind one either.

You know, I'm envious of you, Muse Mama. You have an amazing ability to say so eloquently in a few paragraphs what I try to say in a whole post! I've often thought a similar thing, that the "higher power" is all one and the same, regardless of what we call it.